Muriel's Wedding The Musical

Muriel’s Wedding The Musical is back in town after its 2017 debut to prove it does live up to the hype. If you only go to see one musical this year, make it this. Pack your bags, swipe your dad’s credit card and hitch a ride out of Porpoise Spit with everyone’s favourite bewildered misfit.

The thing is, it would be all too easy to do this musical badly. Pair the high expectations that come with adapting a deeply beloved and popular film, let alone an Australian classic, with how simple it would have been to give this a jukebox musical-style score of shake-and-go ABBA songs, à la Mamma Mia, and it could have been terrible, Muriel! 

What we have is an almost infallible musical packed with original music and laugh-out-loud humour (which doesn’t only rely on familiar catchphrases for laughs) that’s steeped in pathos. It does what every great musical should – strips away any thoughts of the world outside the theatre and completely immerses you in emotion.

The musical retains much of the magic of the 1994 film, no doubt thanks to the involvement of its creator PJ Hogan, who wrote the musical’s book. The modern updates to the script are well played when the odd pause for a selfie and social media reference could have come off as jarring.

Kate Miller-Heidke and partner Keir Nuttall are on music and lyrics. It’s a special experience to see the breadth of their work fleshed out through the journey of an entire show after their show-stopping entry at Eurovision. 

23-year-old Natalie Abbott is our Muriel Heslop, making her mainstage debut in the leading role. Much like the ABBA-loving leading lady, Abbott left her small coastal town for the big smoke of Sydney, finding her way into this iconic role and into the hearts of every audience member. 

She is well matched by Stefanie Jones in the role of Muriel’s saviour and best friend, Rhonda Epinstall. 

Even though Muriel’s Wedding is the story a woman obsessed with matrimony and a Swedish pop group that peaked in the ‘70s, it’s still a feminist masterpiece. It is a redeemable journey to self-love. We can empathise with why Muriel gets lost in her lies and her fantasy of a perfect life, and applaud her progress. The great love story of this show is between Muriel and Rhonda – a tribute to the beauty of female friendship, and the additionally profound beauty of love and friendship between misfits. Their duet Amazing is a gorgeous standout. 

When Muriel flees for Sydney, the idealistic portrayal of the harbour city as a place to “be who you wanna be” is adorable, and somewhat true, if you know where to look, and if the places you like to go haven’t been put down by the lockout laws. There is something laughable about sitting in the Lyric Theatre, inside The Star casino, watching musical numbers celebrating the fringes of the city’s nightlife, or critiquing the greed of Muriel’s father (the Mayor of Porpoise Spit) overdeveloping their coastal hometown and selling it off to the highest bidder. 

The parallels between Muriel and her parents are drawn in a more discerning light in the musical adaptation. Muriel comes to recognise her father’s narcissism in herself, and her mother’s sadness. If the journey with Muriel’s mother in the second half doesn’t move you to tears, get your heart checked.

It is exciting and heartening to see a new Australian musical hitting the mark so well. Don’t trust anyone without a little bit of Muriel in them.